Trump administration announces fees on Chinese ships docking at U.S. ports

The Trump administration on Thursday announced fees on Chinese-built vessels after a United States Trade Representative investigation by the Biden-Trump administrations found China’s acts, policies and practices were unreasonable and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.

“Ships and shipping are vital to American economic security and the free flow of commerce,” said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “The Trump administration’s actions will begin to reverse Chinese dominance, address threats to the U.S. supply chain, and send a demand signal for U.S.-built ships.”

The USTR said China largely achieved its dominance through its increasingly aggressive and specific targeting of these sectors, severely disadvantaging U.S. companies, workers and the U.S. economy.

The fees will be charged once per voyage and not per port, as originally proposed.

The policy proposal, begun under the Biden administration and culminating in a January report concluded China’s shipbuilding industry had an unfair advantage, would allow the U.S. government to impose steep levies on Chinese-made ships arriving at U.S. ports. The original proposal called for a service fee of up to $1 million to be charged on each Chinese-owned operators (such as Cosco). The original proposal also said that for non-Chinese-owned ocean carriers with fleets containing Chinese-built vessels, the service fee would be up to $1.5 million for each U.S. port of call.

The USTR acknowledged this change was made due to the public comments at the two days of hearings on the fines in March where over 300 trade groups and other interested parties testified. Many warned the government in letters and in testimony that the U.S. was in no position to win an economic war that placed ocean carriers using Chinese-made vessels in the middle. Soon, Chinese-made vessels will represent 98% of the trade ships on the world’s oceans.

Vessel owners could be eligible for a remission of the fees if they can provide proof of a U.S. shipbuilding order. The remission of the fee would be based on a net tonnage capacity of equal to or less than the U.S. built vessel ordered. “If a prospective vessel owner does not take delivery of the U.S.-built vessel ordered within three years, the fees will become due immediately,” the report read.